Jackal Among Snakes

Gilderwatchers.

As the name suggested, they were gigantic serpents that appeared gilded. All from their eyes on their head to the feathers adorning their body shone with the color. They possessed a presence of mind expanding far beyond their body, and the ability to communicate telepathically with their kin by touch alone. In the past, Argrave and Elenore had used this ability in several circumstances, from sharing their true thoughts to scouting out the cities of Blackgard or Vasquer.

Erlebnis’ knowledge gave Argrave several new insights on top of what he already knew. For one, most of their kind resided deep underground. Given their ability, it made some sense. Argrave likened it to snakes that used sound to aid in detecting prey. For two, the ‘watcher’ part of their name came from their propensity for neutrality, not their presence of mind. Their ancestral matriarch had been a rare exception.

Argrave was sorely tempted to return to Vasquer and inquire deeper about the character of his alleged great-granduncle. But they had timed things with the raid against Kirel Qircassia to avoid undue scrutiny, and they couldn't delay further. Argrave did inform his siblings of the message he’d received, but it turned out that had been a futile thing.

“I heard it too,” admitted Elenore as they leapt through the endless corridors of space in Raccomen’s realm, heading for where Lindon was supposed to be. “I don’t like it. It makes me hesitant to think.”

“He’s our relative! I, for one, am looking forward to it,” Orion said, ever the optimist when it came to family.

Argrave was hesitant to speak, but since they’d passed into Raccomen’s realm, Lindon had gone silent. He risked the god’s ire and said, “I think you’ve learned by now that just because someone’s family doesn’t mean they’re a saint. Let’s be cautiously optimistic.”

“And I’ll be cautiously pessimistic,” Rook, the only one who hadn’t heard Lindon, added. “That’s the job of a guard. Keeping you three alive. If he were an ancient god, surely I’d have heard of him by now.”

Argrave wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t voice that opinion.

#####

When they finally emerged from Raccomen’s realm to another part of the world, Lindon’s voice came back to them.

“There you are. You were beyond me in Raccomen’s realm,” Lindon said. “Oh... that pleases you, does it? Were you speaking ill of me? What was it, I wonder?”

Argrave thought of nonsense about purple elephants, and he felt a glow of amusement that wasn’t his own.

“So guarded. Rest assured, I won’t pry too deeply. For now, I shall merely inform you that I’ve sent a boat to retrieve you. Seek out the port in the nearby city, and tell the green-capped man, ‘amaranthine.’”

Argrave looked at his siblings, and he could tell they’d received much the same instruction. Raccomen’s portal wasn’t too far from a city, and they found the place quickly. Argrave had been preparing to do a great many things to gain entry, especially with Orion hauling a giant golden cube, but instead...

“Welcome back, sir,” the guard at the gate, wearing armor of a foreign style made largely of fur. “Enjoy your stay.”

They were let in without incident. Argrave was tempted to ask more questions, but they continued on into the city to its port. Largely wooden houses and oaken palisades, this place seemed more tribal than Vasquer or the Great Chu. There weren’t very many people at the port, most having gone out to sea in skiffs to fish, but there was a single fisherman remaining wearing a green cap.

Orion walked to him first, carrying the golden cube with the Smiling Raven locked inside. “Are you Lindon’s man?” he asked.

“Who?” the fisherman looked up at him. “Listen, I’m busy here. Just move along.”

The fisherman whittled something, but as far as Argrave could tell, there didn’t seem to be something he was working toward. He was just whittling to whittle, almost absent-mindedly. Orion looked back at them for guidance.

“Amaranthine,” Elenore said simply.

The fisherman came alive, dropping his knife and wooden piece both into the sea. He walked to his boat, got in, and waited there while staring blankly ahead. Orion hefted up the golden cube, but looked to Argrave for guidance. After hesitating a great deal, everyone got aboard the boat.

Lindon’s voice returned. “I sense you have some worry for the man. It’s not due. The guard, most of the people in this town... just some simple tweaks of mind. They won’t remember this. Neither you, nor me.”

Argrave felt disquieted by the totality of Lindon’s power as the boat took off from the docks. He had already felt some unease about having things overwritten by Sophia, but now there was someone amply demonstrating that they could quietly rewire memories, keeping an entire town ignorant.

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“Your fear is natural, though I’m disappointed it comes from kin. Orion seems fine with it. Why can’t you be more like Orion? He’s a beacon of calm.” He felt that familiar glow of amusement from Lindon, and when it quieted he continued. “But you’ve already experienced our power, you know. In the White Planes. You forgot much about your time there.”

The boat continued onward, heading for a distant black rock. Argrave listened patiently, glad this meeting wasn’t starting off antagonistic.

“You aren’t the first to fear dominion over the mind. It’s led to widespread persecution of my kin, persecution of me. During one cycle of judgment, when the extent of our capability was revealed, most all of them hunted us. In the end, months of concerted effort resulted in a stalemate devastating to both sides. But they had numbers. Billions of them, and thousands of us. We made peace, lest they wipe us all out. We Gilderwatchers were forced to relinquish our power over the mind to aid in creating the White Planes. Now, our minds meld with kin alone... excepting myself, of course. We Gilderwachers aren’t neutral by temperament. Most of us are bound by the White Planes, limited in innumerable manners. In return, we were given secrecy. As good a peace as any. Their fears are abated, our lives are protected.”

Argrave’s mind wandered to Vasquer as the boat moved ever closer toward the distant volcanic island. Why was Vasquer allowed to break that neutrality?

“You and your sister both have questions, while Orion is simply sympathetic and distraught that we were persecuted. Truly, why can’t both of you be more like your older brother?” Again, that glow of amusement came. He was getting a sense for this Lindon’s character, provided he wasn’t putting on a front.

“Well, the answer is simple. Vasquer was born after we forged that peace. Her soul is unbound by its dictates, and she remains ignorant of the heights of our power. As you know, she possesses a presence of mind, but lacks the capacity to communicate telepathically with anyone. Any other than kin, that is.”

Argrave had never heard any of this history before. It almost beggared belief, but they’d seen both how terrifying Lindon’s power was, and how it could make everyone in an entire town ignorant. Argrave did wonder if Lindon was being entirely forthright, but everything that he said did make a great deal of sense, right down to the reason for Erlebnis’ ignorance.

Concurrently, it was entirely reasonable for the god of the mind, dreams, and consciousness to toy with all three. If he could peruse Argrave’s thoughts, he was undoubtedly capable of crafting such a rich story to entrap them.

“Why bother making a story when I could merely change your minds?” Lindon posited.

His lone declaration was quite chilling, and reignited some of those fears. Argrave hadn’t felt quite so powerless in some time. What defense was there against this?

“The only defense was genocide. That was what those in the past thought, at the very least.”

There was a moment of silence in the boat ride, and the small black island loomed ever closer. It would be time to disembark soon enough.

“But I’ve given explanation enough; seeing is believing. You’ll be coming upon an entrance to our home soon. I share you and your sister’s caution in trusting kin. I have a vague idea of what you came here to ask of me, but blood relation alone is insufficient to listen, trust, and help. When you come inside, I suspect your other relatives will wish to greet you. They’ve never taken the time to learn your language as I have. Or rather... I never taught it to them as I did others.”

Argrave’s mind danced as he considered what the deity was driving at.

“Greet your family. Enjoy their welcomes, and suffer their rejections. Just as humans, we Gilderwatchers each and all have personalities of our own, and Vasquer’s ascent to the surface to aid mortals was perhaps the most controversial event we’ve endured in recent centuries. I understand that you and your sister both like to gain awareness of a situation before plunging in. You like to know the people, know the terrain. To that end, you two have a task.”

Task? Argrave hesitated, unsure of what he was getting involved in.

“I can try and mend the fractured mind within the box the best of you holds. But would you be so eager to lend a helping hand to a dozen-timed removed relative who comes knocking on your door? I think not. If you cannot understand us, you are not worth my help. To that end, my prerequisite is understanding us.

“You two must figure out what I want in return for my aid. Ask my children, my nephews and nieces, and all the ones that have ‘grand’ prefixing them. If you come to meet me without knowing what I want, I will banish you from this place as I have countless before you. You will remember nothing, not even in that strange thing you call a wiki. And try as you might, you will never remember me again.”

Argrave felt a chill. To forget something forever... he could understand, in part, why people had been afraid enough of the Gilderwatcher’s power. Despite who might overhear, he even wondered if it had been justified to limit the abilities of their kind.

“Enjoy,” Lindon left them as parting.

Elenore looked at Argrave. “He’s giving us a gods-damned riddle?”

Argrave nodded. “It sounds like it,” he said, voice stiff after remaining silent for such a stint.

“All I’ve seen is you people making various weird faces, looking at each other in total silence,” Rook noted. “Very bizarre.”

They said nothing more as the fisherman took them over to the island. His boat bumped against the black rock, and once everyone was out, they saw him row away without a word. It was only when he was a sufficient distance away did he seem to come back to himself.

Argrave looked around the island. Initially he saw nothing, yet eventually a stairway revealed itself to him. ‘Revealed itself’ was the only description he had for it. It was like an illusion had been torn away to show a passage downward. Perhaps it had always been there, but he wasn’t sure.

“Reasonably... we should get out of here,” Argrave told Elenore.

“Maybe,” she conceded, crossing her arms. “Almost certainly… even definitely.”

With that said, Argrave took the first step down the stairs. Apparently, a large family reunion awaited them. Argrave was no stranger to meeting relatives he barely knew. He wasn’t particularly accustomed to the idea of those relatives being giant snakes. And apparently Vasquer, that warm scaly old lady, was the youngest of the bunch.

It proved to be an eventful day, and one only just beginning.